This invention pertains to feeds for confined animals.
In transporting and shipping small animals such as pets, that is, dogs and cats, as well as white mice, gerbils, white rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, monkeys, ferrets, chinchillas, and even poultry, it is usually necessary to provide them with water and sufficient nutrition. Water spillage renders the practice quite undesirable. Feeding the animals without water, and leaving them thirsty is as objectionable as not feeding them in the first place; yet no workable watering system has been devised for shipping small animals.
In addition to transporting animals, modern research is demanding that an increasing number of laboratory animals be reared in isolated environments. In many of those laboratories the provisions for care of animals are such that monitoring feed and water presents a problem. In both instances it would be desirable to have a laboratory animal feed which contained the animal's daily supply of water. By "confined animals," then, we mean animals being transported or shipped from one place to another, as well as laboratory animals.
The most desirable means for feeding confined animals is to employ animal feeds which contain the animal's entire requirement of water, such feeds are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,723. The shipping diet disclosed in this patent, which is incorporated herein by reference, is in the form of gelled compositions containing both the feed and the water. The gels are such that they not only satisfy the nutritional requirements of the animals, but that they contain enough water to meet optimum water requirements.
The preparation of these water-containing feeds, as pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,723 involves mixing the water and dry materials and introducing them into pouches. The pouches are then sealed, placed in a retort and heated at a temperature of about 250.degree. F. When removed from the retorting process the material is in the form of a stable gel.
Because of the retort requirement this process has been found to be too expensive and demanding for use in the production of shipping diets for axenic animals, and particularly, for ordinary laboratory animal shipping diets, that is, feeds for non-isolated animals. This is especially true since during the retorting process nine to ten pounds of superimposed air pressure must be maintained to prevent rupturing the pouches by the internal steam generated. Another disadvantage of the shipping diet of U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,723 is that when removed from the retorting process the material is in the form of a stable gel. Hence at gel forming temperatures the material is not fluid long enough for packaging in any other form. However, no low temperature process is known for the production of solid laboratory animal feed containing the animal's daily supply of water. Herein such a feed is provided.